The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine
The Willy T is a bar on a boat in the British Virgin Islands. One of the previous boats that housed the bar was retired recently and sunk as an art installation dive site. We visited while sailing on Cuan Law, and found it to be a really fun site. I hope you enjoy a few photos of our dive!
Mike and I visited Cayman Brac with a group of scuba divers. We enjoyed our time there immensely, and look forward to returning some day. In this three-part series, I’m breaking down our trip and what you need to know before visiting. In Part 1, I cover general information, travel to and from the island, accommodations. In Part 2, I cover things to do on the island. In Part 3, I cover the scuba diving.
Cayman Brac is the easternmost island in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands are a British territory, so the island is very safe and easy to navigate for Americans. The population is small (just over 2,200 people on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman combined), making it quiet. It’s a beautiful island, so with the quiet, it’s perfect for a relaxing getaway.
To get from the United States to Cayman Brac, you’ll likely be flying on a couple of different carriers. We flew on Delta through Atlanta to Grand Cayman, then flew on Cayman Airways from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac. My understanding is that the same applies if you’re flying to Little Cayman. This is because these are really small islands.
On the way to Cayman Brac, we were on a small jet, which was as expected. On the return trip, I ended up on an extremely tiny, fixed landing gear, propeller plane. The cockpit was open, so I could see everything that the pilots were doing. This was really interesting, but also really surprising for a commercial airline carrier.
We stayed at the Cayman Brac Beach Resort, which was beautiful. The rooms were pretty and comfortable, and the common areas were gorgeous as well.
The food was great, and we especially enjoyed having lunch at the outdoor pool bar between/after our dives. The patio was also a great place to relax in the afternoons and evenings after a full day of diving.
I’m not certain if there are other resorts actually operating on the island, as it’s very small. While cycling around the island, we saw some other resorts that had previously been open, but it didn’t appear that any of them were still in operation.
Mike and I have visited Roatan twice, in 2014 and 2017. We’ve done a few different activities on our two trips, but haven’t been able to do all of the fun things that the island has to offer.
The main activity we participated in on both of our trips was scuba diving and snorkeling with Turquoise Bay. These folks are top-notch. They have good quality boats and facilities, and great divemasters. The diving is great (check out Parts 3 and 4 of this series on Roatan for photos from the diving).
The snorkeling is wonderful too. Fun fact: I was not a certified scuba diver on our first trip, but I did do quite a bit of snorkeling. In fact the great snorkeling, and hearing about what the divers were seeing underwater was what prompted me to learn how to dive.
On both of our trips to Roatan, we also visited West End and West Bay. These are on the complete opposite side of the island from Turquoise Bay Resort, where we stayed. West End is a smaller village, pretty, but not as much to do.
West Bay is a town, with lots of restaurants and shops. You can purchase all of your souvenirs, get a bite to eat and even do some scuba diving. We didn’t dive in West Bay, but it’s on the to do list for a future trip.
My favorite is the ice cream shop is also on the beach at West Bay. It has a giant swing outside right in the sand; and has the best coconut ice cream. So refreshing on a hot afternoon!
Pretty much anytime you have water, you can kayak. I definitely kayaked around Turquoise Bay during our stay there. It was great fun to take a kayak out to the mangroves and just enjoy a peaceful morning on the water.
Mahogany Bay is a planned “town” where the cruise ships dock. It has shops and restaurants, and is fun to walk around for a short while. But it’s very planned, and looks like any other cruise ship area on any other island.
A bunch of people of in our group went ziplining on our second trip, including Mike. They had a great time. I’m not a fan of ziplining, so I skipped it. But they said it was a good time.
Some of the world’s best seafood in the world, Mike and I first ate at this great restaurant for lunch in 2014, and then took a group of friends back with us in 2017. I’m allergic to shellfish, but they have wonderful marinated fish. But for shellfish eaters, the portions are huge, and (according to Mike, who loves the stuff) it is top-notch.
You simply can’t go to a Caribbean island and not spend some time laying on the beach soaking up the sunshine and reading a book or taking a nap. And Roatan is no exception to that rule. In fact, because Turquoise Bay Resort has a private beach, this is one of my very favorite things to do.
Like I said, there are more things that I’d like to do when we visit Roatan again. I’d like to scuba dive in the West Bay/West End area. Anthony’s Key is quite popular, and we didn’t get to visit. And in 2017, we heard that there are dune buggies on Roatan. I think it’d be so, so fun to ride in dune buggies on vacation.
If you’d like to read more about Roatan, check out the other portions of the series, where we are breaking Roatan down as follows:
Part 1: Travel and General Information
Part 2: Accommodations
Part 3: Scuba Diving
Part 4: Wreck Diving
Part 5: Things to Do